Turnkey Tips to Study and Reference Social Media

2009 B2B
Social Media
Benchmarking
Study
Insights for Business-to-Business Companies from
Business.com’s 2009 Business Social Media
Benchmarking Research

By
Ben Hanna, Ph.D.
VP, Marketing
R.H. Donnelley Interactive

November 16, 2009

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© 2009 Business.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

2009 B2B Social Media
Benchmarking Study

2009 B2B Social Media Benchmarking Study

Contents
List of Figures ............................................................................................................................ 2
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 4
Referencing this Study .......................................................................................................... 5
RESEARCH REPORT

Reaching a Business Audience through Social Media ............................................................. 6
Top Business Social Media Resources by Company Size ................................................... 7
Top Business Social Media Resources by Industry .............................................................. 8
Top Business Social Media Resources for Senior Management ........................................ 22
Top Business Social Media Resources by Job Role ........................................................... 24
Social Media Initiatives at B2B Companies ............................................................................ 32
Respondent and Company Experience with Business Social Media .................................. 32
Top B2B Company Social Media Activities ......................................................................... 34
How B2B Companies Judge Social Media Success ........................................................... 36
Initiative Detail: Managing Business Profiles on Social Media Sites ................................... 38
Initiative Detail: Participating in Q&A Sites .......................................................................... 41
Initiative Detail: Using Social Media Monitoring Tools ........................................................ 44
Initiative Detail: Sharing Business Content on Social Media Sites ..................................... 47
Additional Reports Based on this Research ........................................................................... 50
2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study ............................................................. 50
2009 B2B Social Media Benchmarking Study ..................................................................... 50
Upcoming Reports ............................................................................................................... 50
About the B2B Social Media Benchmarking Study ................................................................. 51
Contact .................................................................................................................................... 56
More Resources from Business.com… .................................................................................. 57


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List of Figures
Figure 1: Most Popular Social Media Resources for Business Information.............................. 6
Figure 2: Significant Differences in Business Social Media Usage by Company Size ............. 7
Figure 3: No Differences in Online Community Participation by Company Size ...................... 8
Figure 4: Industry Representation among Study Participants Using Social Media for Business
Information ................................................................................................................................ 9
Figure 5: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Advertising & Marketing Industry. 10
Figure 6: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Automotive Industry ..................... 11
RESEARCH REPORT

Figure 7: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Computers & Software Industry .. 12
Figure 8: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Financial Services Industry ......... 13
Figure 9: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Food & Beverage Industry........... 14
Figure 10: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Healthcare Industry ................... 15
Figure 11: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Industrial Goods & Services
Industry.................................................................................................................................... 16
Figure 12: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Internet & Online Industry.......... 17
Figure 13: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Legal Industry ............................ 18
Figure 14: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Media & Entertainment Industry 19
Figure 15: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Real Estate & Construction
Industry.................................................................................................................................... 20
Figure 16: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Retail Industry............................ 21
Figure 17: Use of Social Media Resources for Business Information – Senior Management at
Small vs. Mid- to Large-Sized Businesses.............................................................................. 23
Figure 18: Job Roles of Respondents Using Social Media for Business Information ............ 24
Figure 19: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Accounting & Finance Job Role 25
Figure 20: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Administrative Job Role ............. 26
Figure 21: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Consulting Job Role .................. 27
Figure 22: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Customer Service Job Role ....... 28
Figure 23: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Marketing & Communications Job
Role ......................................................................................................................................... 29
Figure 24: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Operations & Logistics Job Role 30
Figure 25: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Sales Job Role .......................... 31
Figure 32: % of Work Time Spent Managing or Involved with Company Social Media
Initiatives – B2B Respondents ................................................................................................ 32
Figure 33: Experience with Business Social Media For Those Currently Involved with
Business Social Media Initiatives ............................................................................................ 33
Figure 34: B2B Company Experience with Social Media ....................................................... 33
Figure 35: Most Popular Business Social Media Initiatives .................................................... 34
Figure 36: Department Driving Social Media Initiatives – B2B vs. B2C Companies .............. 35
Figure 38: Social Media Success Metrics – B2B vs. B2C Companies ................................... 36
Figure 39: Ability to See Impact of Social Media Initiatives on Success Metrics – B2B vs. B2C
Companies .............................................................................................................................. 37
Figure 41: Managing Profiles on Social Media Sites – B2B vs. B2C Companies .................. 38
Figure 42: B2B Company Ability to See Business Impact of Profiles on Social Media Sites . 39
Figure 43: B2B Company Net Promoter Scores for Business Profiles on Select Sites .......... 40
Figure 44: Top Q&A Sites on Which Companies Participate.................................................. 41
Figure 45: B2B Company Ability to See Business Impact of Participating on Q&A Sites ...... 42
Figure 46: B2B Company Net Promoter Score for Participating in Business Q&A on Select
Sites ........................................................................................................................................ 43
Figure 47: Most Popular Tools for Monitoring Online Conversations ..................................... 44
Figure 48: B2B Company Ability to See Business Impact of Online Conversation Monitoring
Tools........................................................................................................................................ 45


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Figure 49: Net Promoter Score for Select Social Media Monitoring Tools ............................. 46
Figure 50: Top Sites to Which Companies Upload Content ................................................... 47
Figure 51: B2B Company Ability to See Business Impact of Content Sharing on Select Sites
................................................................................................................................................ 48
Figure 52: B2B Company Net Promoter Score for Select Content Sharing Sites .................. 49
Figure 56: B2B Study Participants by Company Size ............................................................. 51
Figure 57: B2B Study Participants by Industry ....................................................................... 52
Figure 58: B2B Study Participants by Job Role ...................................................................... 52
Figure 59: B2B Study Participants by Job Level ..................................................................... 53
Figure 60: Study Participants by Company Product / Service Focus ..................................... 53
Figure 61: B2B Study Participants by Primary Customer Location ........................................ 54
Figure 62: B2B Study Participants by Company Potential Customer Count .......................... 54
Figure 63: B2B Study Participants by Company Average Sales Cycle .................................. 55


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Benchmarking Study

Introduction
In this companion report to Business.com’s 2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking
Study (http://www.business.com/info/business-social-media-benchmark-study), we examine
the results from the perspective of business-to-business (B2B) company executives, B2B
marketing professionals and/or marketing agencies serving B2B clients interested in the
following questions:

• To what social media sites do business people turn when seeking the information
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they need to do their jobs on a day-to-day basis? And what are they looking for?

• What do people consider to be the most useful social media resources for business
information (and, therefore, the most valuable social media sites on which B2B
companies should participate in order to reach their target audience)?

• What are the most popular types of social media initiatives among B2B companies,
and is the impact of these initiatives visible in business results?

• How do B2B companies judge social media success?

• Among B2B companies currently involved in the following types of social media
initiatives, what web sites do they use, can they see the impact on business results
and would they recommend participating on the sites to other businesses?
o Managing business profiles/accounts
o Participating in Q&A
o Using social media monitoring tools
o Sharing business content
o Business content social bookmarking

It is important to note at the outset that the results reported here are from study participants
already involved in using social media for business, either using social media as a business
information resource, working for a company actively planning or engaged in one or more
business social media initiatives, or both. As such, this research covers social media
utilization by businesses and business people (e.g., among North American companies
maintaining a profile on a social media site, what percentage do so on Facebook, LinkedIn,
Twitter, etc.). This study does not address the issue of business social media adoption (e.g.,
of all North American companies, what percentage maintain profiles on social media sites?).
Given mounting evidence that social media usage is quickly becoming mainstream – for
1
example, 46% of US adults now participate in social networks, and a quarter do so weekly -
we feel that the question about whether or not businesses, and business people, are
adopting social media is rapidly becoming moot. Social media usage is a reality in today’s
business environment, and the question of utilization is much more interesting, and important,
to company executives and marketers interested in identifying the most effective and efficient
opportunities offered by this new medium.

This report is organized into two sections. The first focuses on identifying the most common
and effective social media activities and sites through which to reach a business audience,
essential information for planning B2B social media initiatives. The second section covers
B2B corporate social media initiatives, benchmarking experience with social media for

1
Lenhart, Amanda. The Democratization of Online Social Networks. Pew Internet & American Life Project, October 8, 2009,
http://www.pewinternet.org/Presentations/2009/41--The-Democratization-of-Online-Social-Networks.aspx.


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Benchmarking Study

business (both respondent and company), top social media activities and how B2B
companies judge social media success today. This section also includes an in-depth look at
five areas of business social media activity – business profiles on social media sites,
participating in question-and-answer sites/forums (Q&A), social media monitoring, content
sharing and social bookmarking – among B2B companies. For each of these areas, we cover
what B2B companies are doing today, the extent to which they can see the impact on
business results and how likely respondents are to recommend using specific sites for
business purposes to a friend or colleague (the Net Promoter Score, a loyalty metric originally
developed by Satmetrix, Bain & Company, and Fred Reichheld).
RESEARCH REPORT

Referencing this Study
A good benchmarking study should generate significant discussion and debate, and we hope
that many of you will discuss one or more insights from this study in your own blog, web site,
publication, conference presentation and/or in other forums. Since this research took
considerable time and effort to produce – it is, after all, the largest study of business social
media use within North American companies to date – we have two simple requests:

1. When making use of any of the statistics or charts in this report, please include
the following reference:

Source: Business.com’s 2009 B2B Social Media Benchmarking Study
(http://www.business.com/info/b2b-social-media-benchmark-study)

2. Provide your readers with a link to the page on the Business.com site where
they can download their own copy of the report. Do not link to your own copy of
the PDF stored on your own web site or other content sharing sites like SlideShare.
While we understand the spirit of open content, the brief registration required to
access the study is not particularly onerous or invasive, and also provides people
interested in the study with the opportunity to indicate their interest in participating in
future Business.com studies about other online marketing topics. Help us continue to
provide top quality research at no cost by providing the following link to the download
page:

http://www.business.com/info/b2b-social-media-benchmark-study


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Benchmarking Study

Reaching a Business Audience through Social Media
In our top-level business social media benchmarking study research report, we summarized
the most popular social media resources people turn to at work for the business-relevant
information they need to do their day-to-day jobs. Based on responses from 2,393 study
participants, this chart is reproduced below:

Figure 1: Most Popular Social Media Resources for Business Information
RESEARCH REPORT

While this high-level view is a great starting point, digging more deeply into this issue
provides key insights for better business audience targeting with social media initiatives.


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Benchmarking Study

In this section, we’ll explore differences in business social media usage by company size,
industry, job level and job role to help B2B company executives, B2B marketers and
marketing agencies serving B2B clients develop more effective B2B social media strategies.

Top Business Social Media Resources by Company Size
Overall, study participants from mid- to large-sized companies with 100 or more employees
were more active users of social media resources for business information than their small
company counterparts. The figure below shows significant differences in the use of specific
social media resources by company size. For example, across the 2,384 participants using
RESEARCH REPORT

social media for business, nearly half (46%) of mid- to large-size company respondents use
Twitter to find or request business-relevant information versus slightly more than one-quarter
(28%) of small business respondents.

Figure 2: Significant Differences in Business Social Media Usage by Company Size


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In all but one case – reading user ratings and reviews for business products or services – a
higher percentage of mid- to large-sized company respondents reported utilizing a given
social media resource than did small business respondents. The fact that small business
respondents show more active interest in business product/service ratings and reviews
makes sense – small businesses typically lack the more formalized purchasing process found
in mid- to large-sized companies, and these ratings and reviews provide additional, useful
information to support the purchasing decision process.

When it comes to active participation on social media web sites, such as participating in
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online business communities or forums, or asking questions on Q&A sites like Yahoo!
Answers or LinkedIn Answers, there were no significant differences between small company
and mid- to large-sized company respondents.

Figure 3: No Differences in Online Community Participation by Company Size

Top Business Social Media Resources by Industry
The use of social media resources as a source of business information also varies
significantly by industry. As shown in the figure below, study participants using social media
for business represent a wide range of industries with the highest percentage of respondents
from retail (13%), healthcare (11%) and real estate and construction (9%).


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Benchmarking Study

Figure 4: Industry Representation among Study Participants Using Social Media for
Business Information
RESEARCH REPORT

The rest of this section examines the use of different social media resource for business by
industry, highlighting significant differences between use of those resources by respondents
from a particular industry versus respondents from all other industries.


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Benchmarking Study

Study participants working in the Advertising & Marketing industry are much heavier users of
social media for business information than those from other industries, with the exception of
reading ratings and reviews for business products or services.

Figure 5: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Advertising & Marketing
Industry
RESEARCH REPORT


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Benchmarking Study

Automotive industry respondents generally mirror the overall study population in their use of
different social media resources for business information. The one exception is the use of
webinars or podcasts, where those from the auto industry are significantly less likely to use
these than respondents from other industries.

Figure 6: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Automotive Industry
RESEARCH REPORT


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Benchmarking Study

Computers & Software industry respondents use significantly more social media resources
for business information than those from other industries, and are much more likely to attend
webinars or listen to podcasts, visit company blogs, search for business information on social
media sites, participate in online communities, subscribe to RSS feeds, user Twitter for
rd
business and participate in discussions on 3 party sites.

Figure 7: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Computers & Software
Industry
RESEARCH REPORT


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Benchmarking Study

Financial Services industry respondents using social media as a resource for business-
relevant information are very similar to those from other industries with two exceptions – they
are significantly MORE likely to attend webinars or listen to podcasts, and significantly LESS
likely to visit company/product profile pages on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.

Figure 8: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Financial Services Industry
RESEARCH REPORT


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Benchmarking Study

Food & Beverage industry respondents using social media as a source of business
information are significantly more likely to read ratings and reviews for business products or
services and use Twitter to find or request business-relevant information, but are significantly
less likely to attend webinars or listen to podcasts.

Figure 9: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Food & Beverage Industry
RESEARCH REPORT


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Benchmarking Study

Healthcare respondents were significantly less likely to seek-out business-relevant
information from company/product profile pages on social media sites like Facebook or
Twitter, ask questions on Q&A sites, visit company blogs, read or download business content
rd
on content sharing sites, subscribe to RSS feeds, participate in discussions on 3 party sites,
engage in social bookmarking and use Twitter for business than those from other industries.

Figure 10: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Healthcare Industry
RESEARCH REPORT


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Benchmarking Study

Apart from being more likely to ask questions on Q&A sites such as Yahoo! Answers and
LinkedIn Answers, respondents working in the Industrial Goods & Services industry were
similar to the overall average in their use of various social media resources for business
information.

Figure 11: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Industrial Goods & Services
Industry
RESEARCH REPORT


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Benchmarking Study

Not surprisingly, respondents working in the Internet and Online industry are more active
users of social media for business information. In particular, they are much more likely to visit
company blogs, participate in online communities and discussions, search Twitter and other
social media sites for business-relevant information, use content sharing sites, use RSS
feeds and save business-related links on social bookmarking sites.

Figure 12: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Internet & Online Industry
RESEARCH REPORT


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Benchmarking Study

Respondents working in Law use fewer social media resources for business information than
those from other industries overall, and are significantly less likely to seek-out business-
relevant information from company/product profile pages on social media sites like Facebook
or Twitter, use Twitter to find business-related information and use social bookmarking.

Figure 13: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Legal Industry
RESEARCH REPORT


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Benchmarking Study

Media & Entertainment industry respondents closely mirror average use of social media for
business information – the only significant difference is a greater propensity to save
business-related links on social bookmarking sites such as Digg, Delicious or StumbleUpon.

Figure 14: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Media & Entertainment
Industry
RESEARCH REPORT


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Benchmarking Study

Real Estate & Construction industry respondents use ratings and reviews most widely used,
likely due to a high concentration of small businesses, and are more likely to use content
sharing sites for business. On the other hand, they are significantly less likely to use webinars
or podcasts, search social media sites for business info and use Twitter for business.

Figure 15: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Real Estate & Construction
Industry
RESEARCH REPORT


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Benchmarking Study

Retail industry respondents seeking business information through social media use fewer
social media resources overall and are less likely to attend webinars or listen to podcasts,
search for business-relevant information on social media sites, get business information from
content sharing sites, use RSS and use Twitter for business than those from other industries.

Figure 16: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Retail Industry
RESEARCH REPORT


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Benchmarking Study

Top Business Social Media Resources for Senior Management
Any analysis of the value or effectiveness of different communication channels to reach
senior management (C-level, EVP, SVP, VP, GM) must also consider company size – the
communication channels used by the head of a six person company and a Fortune 500 SVP
may be different in important ways.

Overall, the senior management participants in this study working for mid- to large-sized
companies with more than 100 employees use significantly more social media resources for
business information than small business (<100 employees) senior management participants.
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Also, as shown in the figure below, senior management members in mid- to large-sized
companies are significantly more likely to:

• Use RSS feeds for business-relevant information, and
• Use Twitter to find or request business-related information

The implications for B2B companies are that while VP and above level senior managers at
companies of all sizes are turning to social media for business information, providing RSS
feeds and having a company presence on Twitter are more important when targeting senior
management at mid- to large-sized companies than when targeting small company
executives.


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Figure 17: Use of Social Media Resources for Business Information – Senior
Management at Small vs. Mid- to Large-Sized Businesses
RESEARCH REPORT


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Benchmarking Study

Top Business Social Media Resources by Job Role
As with industries, participants in this study using social media for business information
represent a wide range of job roles or functions within their companies.

Figure 18: Job Roles of Respondents Using Social Media for Business Information
RESEARCH REPORT

Similar to our analysis of business social media usage by industry above, the rest of this
section will focus on highlighting the top social media resources used for business
information by study participants in different roles.


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Benchmarking Study

Respondents in Accounting or Finance roles used a narrower than average set of social
media resources for business information. However, a higher proportion of those in
Accounting or Finance used ratings and reviews of business products or services, a valuable
resource supporting the business purchasing process.

Figure 19: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Accounting & Finance Job
Role
RESEARCH REPORT


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Benchmarking Study

Administrative professionals turning to social media for business-relevant information were
most likely to visit company profiles on social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter.
However, relative to those in other roles, administrative professionals were less likely to use
any given social media resource for business, and in most cases significantly less likely.

Figure 20: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Administrative Job Role
RESEARCH REPORT


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Benchmarking Study

Consultants are very active in their use of social media channels to find information relevant
to their businesses and day-to-day jobs. In all but one case – visiting company/product
profiles on social networking sites – consultants were more likely to use a given social media
resource for business information than respondents in other roles.

Figure 21: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Consulting Job Role
RESEARCH REPORT


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Benchmarking Study

Customer service professionals are not highly active users of social media resources for
business information. Similar to administrative professionals, in almost all cases customer
service professionals are less likely to use a given social media resource for business than
respondents from other industries.

Figure 22: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Customer Service Job Role
RESEARCH REPORT


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Benchmarking Study

Marketing and Communications professionals are also broad users of social media channels
for business information. The only social media resource Marketing and Communications
professionals do not use for business more than average are ratings and reviews for
business products or services.

Figure 23: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Marketing &
Communications Job Role
RESEARCH REPORT


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Benchmarking Study

Operations & Logistics personnel are fundamentally average when it comes to the use of
social media resources for the information they need to do their jobs on a day-to-day basis.
This group did not significantly differ from the average of all other job roles across any of the
business social media resources included in the study.

Figure 24: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Operations & Logistics Job
Role
RESEARCH REPORT


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Benchmarking Study

The 285 study participants working in a Sales role used slightly fewer social media resources
for business information overall than participants in other job roles. In addition, they were
significantly less likely to turn to company blogs, search social media sites, participate in
online communities or discussions, and use RSS feeds for business information.

Figure 25: Use of Social Media for Business Information – Sales Job Role
RESEARCH REPORT


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Benchmarking Study

Social Media Initiatives at B2B Companies
This study focused on understand business social media utilization – among those business
professionals and companies using social media for business today, what are they doing and
where do they find the most value?

Here, we define a business-to-business (B2B) company as one where two-thirds or more of
RESEARCH REPORT

company revenue comes from sales to other businesses. The About the B2B Social Media
Benchmarking Study section provides additional details, but 564 study participants worked for
B2B companies by our definition, and 434 (77%) of these worked for a B2B company
currently involved in planning or managing social media initiatives.

The vast majority (94%) of these respondents are directly involved in planning or managing
social media initiatives for their companies and spend, on average, 21% of their time in a
given week on business social media activities. This is higher than the overall study average
of 18% of time.

Figure 26: % of Work Time Spent Managing or Involved with Company Social Media
Initiatives – B2B Respondents

Respondent and Company Experience with Business Social Media
B2B company respondents have somewhat more experience with business social media
initiatives than their peers in B2C and mixed companies – 30% of B2B company respondents
have less than one year of business social media experience versus 35% across the study


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Benchmarking Study

overall. However, 65% of B2B company respondents have less than two years of business
social media experience which is the same for the overall study. While B2B respondents are
slightly more experienced, the people involved in social media initiatives at B2B companies
are still very new to the social media for business.

Figure 27: Experience with Business Social Media For Those Currently Involved with
Business Social Media Initiatives
RESEARCH REPORT

The B2B companies for which these respondents work lag their B2C and mixed-company
peers in business social media experience, with 73% of B2B companies having less than 2
years of experience versus 71% for the study overall.

Figure 28: B2B Company Experience with Social Media


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Benchmarking Study

Top B2B Company Social Media Activities
B2B companies are much more active with social media than their B2C counterparts with
three exceptions – there’s no B2B versus B2C difference in the percentage of companies
managing online communities, and B2B companies are significantly less likely than B2C
companies to monitor online ratings/reviews of their products or services and to advertise on
social media sites. B2B companies do, however, maintain a presence on social media sites,
with 81% maintaining one or more accounts or profiles on sites like Facebook, Twitter or
RESEARCH REPORT

LinkedIn. B2B companies are also much more likely to engage in micro-blogging on Twitter
than B2C companies.

Figure 29: Most Popular Business Social Media Initiatives


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Benchmarking Study

In B2B companies, the Marketing department is much more likely to be driving social media
initiatives than in B2C companies as shown in the figure below.

Figure 30: Department Driving Social Media Initiatives – B2B vs. B2C Companies
RESEARCH REPORT


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Benchmarking Study

How B2B Companies Judge Social Media Success
Web site traffic is the most common social media success metric used for both B2B and B2C
companies, but a significantly higher percentage of B2B companies (68%) use this metric
than B2C companies (57%). B2B companies are also more likely to use brand awareness,
prospect lead quality and prospect lead volume as social media success metrics than are
B2C companies.

Figure 31: Social Media Success Metrics – B2B vs. B2C Companies
RESEARCH REPORT

We also asked respondents to tell us how well they can see the impact of company social
media initiatives on the success metrics they use today using the following scale:

1. Not at All - Unable to Measure
2. Barely - May or May Not Have the Data


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Benchmarking Study

3. Somewhat - Data is There but You Have to Dig
4. Well - Most of the Data is Easily Accessed
5. Very Well - Part of Standard Reports

The figure below shows the top two box (Well, Very Well) percentages for respondents using
each of the success metrics.

Figure 32: Ability to See Impact of Social Media Initiatives on Success Metrics – B2B
vs. B2C Companies
RESEARCH REPORT

B2B companies appear better able to see the impact of their social media initiatives on web
site traffic and revenue than B2C companies. However, B2B companies report a somewhat
lower ability to get useful product feedback from their social media initiatives.


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Benchmarking Study

In this report, we also explore four specific types of business social media initiatives –
managing social media business profiles, participating in business Q&A sites, using social
media monitoring tools and sharing business content on social media sites. The following
sections provide top-level details about the top sites used, ability to see the impact of these
initiatives on key social media metrics and how likely respondents are to recommend using
specific sites for business purposes to a friend or colleague (the Net Promoter Score, a
loyalty metric originally developed by Satmetrix, Bain & Company, and Fred Reichheld).
RESEARCH REPORT

Initiative Detail: Managing Business Profiles on Social Media Sites
Among both B2B and B2C companies managing a company or branded profile on at least
one social media site, Facebook is the most popular site. B2B companies, however, manage
profiles across a greater number of social media sites than do B2C companies and are much
more likely to manage one or more Twitter accounts or LinkedIn Groups, manage their
company listing on LinkedIn and have a presence on YouTube.

Figure 33: Managing Profiles on Social Media Sites – B2B vs. B2C Companies


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Benchmarking Study

Respondents report minor difference in the ability to see the impact on business results of
maintaining a company profile on these social media sites. As shown in the figure below, B2B
companies can see the greatest impact from their Twitter account(s) and the least impact
from their LinkedIn Groups accounts and Facebook.

Figure 34: B2B Company Ability to See Business Impact of Profiles on Social Media
Sites
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The Net Promoter Score, or NPS, is a simple and popular metric used to benchmark
customer loyalty. Developed by Fred Reichheld of Bain & Company, NPS is described on the
www.netpromoter.com web site as follows:

“NPS is based on the fundamental perspective that every company's
customers can be divided into three categories: Promoters, Passives,
and Detractors. By asking one simple question — How likely is it that you
would you recommend [Company X] to a friend or colleague? — you can
track these groups and get a clear measure of your company's
performance through its customers' eyes. Customers respond on a 0-to-
10 point rating scale and are categorized as follows:

• Promoters (score 9-10) are loyal enthusiasts who will keep buying and refer
others, fueling growth.
• Passives (score 7-8) are satisfied but unenthusiastic customers who are
vulnerable to competitive offerings.


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• Detractors (score 0-6) are unhappy customers who can damage your brand
and impede growth through negative word-of-mouth.”

The NPS is calculated as the percentage of respondents who are Promoters and subtracting
the percentage which are Detractors.

In this study, we asked respondents how likely they were to recommend each site their
company used to a friend or colleague considering setting-up business profiles on social
media sites. The site with the top NPS, LinkedIn Companies, was the same for both B2B and
RESEARCH REPORT

B2C companies. Overall, B2B company respondents were likely to recommend establishing
and managing a profile on all five social media sites below.

Figure 35: B2B Company Net Promoter Scores for Business Profiles on Select Sites

The Net Promoter Scores in the figure above are provided as an indicator of the relative
value respondents see in maintaining business profiles on these sites and may or may not
match NPS values from other studies or the companies themselves.


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Benchmarking Study

Initiative Detail: Participating in Q&A Sites
Question & Answer (Q&A) sites provide a forum for people to ask and answer questions with
sites like Yahoo! Answers offering Q&A across a very broad range of consumer and business
topics while sites like LinkedIn Answers, MarketingProfs Knowhow Exchange and our newly-
launched Business.com Answers offer business-focused Q&A.

Among respondents indicating their company participates in one or more Q&A sites for
business purposes, LinkedIn Answers is the top Q&A site for both B2B and B2C companies.
For B2B companies specifically, LinkedIn Answers is the overwhelming choice, and B2B
RESEARCH REPORT

companies are significantly less likely than B2C companies to participate in Q&A on Yahoo!
Answers, WikiAnswers or Answers.com.

Figure 36: Top Q&A Sites on Which Companies Participate


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Benchmarking Study

Respondents working for B2B companies participating in business Q&A on Answers.com
report the greatest ability to see the impact of that activity on business results. The top two
box score for LinkedIn Answers, WikiAnswers and Yahoo! Answers are virtually the same.

Figure 37: B2B Company Ability to See Business Impact of Participating on Q&A Sites
RESEARCH REPORT

As with profiles on social media sites, we also asked respondents how likely they were to
recommend each Q&A site their company uses to a friend or colleague considering
participating on Q&A sites for business. Among B2B company respondents, the Q&A site for
business with the highest NPS was LinkedIn Answers and the lowest was Yahoo! Answers.

The Net Promoter Scores in the figure below are provided as an indicator of the relative value
respondents see in participating in select Q&A sites for business and may or may not match
NPS values from other studies or the companies themselves.


42

Benchmarking Study

Figure 38: B2B Company Net Promoter Score for Participating in Business Q&A on
Select Sites
RESEARCH REPORT


43

Benchmarking Study

Initiative Detail: Using Social Media Monitoring Tools
Companies can use a wide variety of tools to monitor company, brand and/or competitor
mentions across blogs and other social media sites. Among B2B companies, Twitter Search,
Google Search and Google Alerts are the most popular choices, and B2B companies are
significantly more likely than B2C companies to use Twitter Search and Google Alerts for
monitoring online mentions of their company or brands. B2B companies are significantly less
likely to use Yahoo! Search than B2C companies.

Figure 39: Most Popular Tools for Monitoring Online Conversations
RESEARCH REPORT


44

Benchmarking Study

B2B company users of the online conversation monitoring tools below report the greatest
ability to see the impact of Google Alerts on business results. Two of the most popular tools
for monitoring online conversations among B2B companies, Twitter Search and Google
Search, are rated similarly in the ability to see the business impact of using those tools.

Figure 40: B2B Company Ability to See Business Impact of Online Conversation
Monitoring Tools
RESEARCH REPORT

B2B companies gave Google Alerts the highest NPS, followed by Google Search, Google
blog Search and Twitter Search. The lowest NPS was for Bing Search which had more
detractors than promoters as a tool for monitoring online conversations.

respondents see in select free tools for monitoring online conversations and may or may not
match NPS values from other studies or the companies themselves.


45

Benchmarking Study

Figure 41: Net Promoter Score for Select Social Media Monitoring Tools
RESEARCH REPORT


46

Benchmarking Study

Initiative Detail: Sharing Business Content on Social Media Sites
YouTube is the top content sharing site for companies involved in uploading business content
rd
to 3 party sites, followed by Flickr, Slideshare, Squidoo and Vimeo, all of which are used
significantly more frequently by B2B companies than B2C companies.

Figure 42: Top Sites to Which Companies Upload Content
RESEARCH REPORT

Among B2B companies uploading content to various social media sites, those using
YouTube and SlideShare report the greatest ability to see the impact of business content
sharing on these sites on business results.


47

Benchmarking Study

Figure 43: B2B Company Ability to See Business Impact of Content Sharing on Select
Sites
RESEARCH REPORT

YouTube (+41%) had the highest Net Promoter Score among B2B companies using content
sharing sites for business, closely followed by Slideshare (+36%).Flickr (0%) had the lowest
NPS among content sharing sites for B2B companies.

respondents see in sharing business content on select sites and may or may not match NPS
values from other studies or the companies themselves.


48

Benchmarking Study

Figure 44: B2B Company Net Promoter Score for Select Content Sharing Sites
RESEARCH REPORT


49

Benchmarking Study

Additional Reports Based on this Research
The data set from Business.com’s Business Social Media Benchmarking Survey is a very
rich source of insights about a wide range of topics around the business use of social media.
The following reports based on this data set are available as of November 16, 2009:

2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study
Summarizes high-level findings from nearly 3,000 North American study participants,
providing a very useful benchmark for where businesses, and business people, find value
RESEARCH REPORT

today in social media across different activities and sites. This report can be downloaded
from http://www.business.com/info/business-social-media-benchmark-study.

2009 B2B Social Media Benchmarking Study
Unique insights from this research for business-to-business (B2B) companies, including how
business people use social media today, most popular types of social media initiatives among
B2B companies and the value B2B companies are finding in a variety of social media
initiatives, from maintaining company accounts/profiles on social media sites to participating
in business Q&A, social media monitoring, content sharing and social bookmarking. This
report can be downloaded from http://www.business.com/info/b2b-social-media-benchmark-
study.

Upcoming Reports
We plan to release additional reports every few weeks throughout the fourth quarter of 2009
and early 2010 on topics including the following:

• Small businesses (<100 employees)
• Business-to-consumer (B2C) companies
• Business social media newbies vs. pros
• Industry-specific insights
• Social media measurement
• Business profiles on social media sites
• Participating in question-and-answer (Q&A) sites for business
• Social media monitoring
• Business content sharing on social media sites
• Business social bookmarking

Follow Business.com on Twitter (http://twitter.com/B2BOnlineMktg) or subscribe to the RSS
feed for our B2B online marketing blog (http://feeds.feedburner.com/B2B-Online-Marketing-
Businesscom) to be alerted when additional reports are released.


50

Benchmarking Study

About the B2B Social Media Benchmarking Study
This research report is based on results from Business.com’s Business Social Media
Benchmarking Study, an online survey conducted between August 11th and September
4th, 2009. As an incentive to complete this rather lengthy survey, Business.com held a
drawing for a $2,000 American Express® gift card among eligible respondents – see
http://offers.business.com/content/SocialMediaRules for official contest rules.

Overall, 2,948 respondents from the United States or Canada qualified to participate in the
RESEARCH REPORT

study, providing a total of 2,282 complete surveys (54%) and 1,943 partial responses. The
complete results for all respondents are available in the 2009 Business Social Media
Benchmarking Study general report, available as a free download from the Business.com
web site at http://www.business.com/info/business-social-media-benchmark-study.

The business-to-business (B2B) company results reported here are based on responses from
564 participants currently working for companies where sales to other businesses account for
67% or more of company revenue.

NOTE: This study focuses on benchmarking the activities and perspectives of people already
involved with social media for business (e.g., of companies using social media, what
percentage maintain profiles on social media sites?). It is not intended as a benchmark of
the adoption of different social media practices across the general business
population (e.g., of all North American companies, what percentage maintain profiles
on social media sites?).

Participant Profile for B2B Respondents
Participants in the 2009 B2B Social Media Benchmarking Study reflect a wide range of
company sizes, industries and job roles.

Figure 45: B2B Study Participants by Company Size


51

Benchmarking Study

Figure 46: B2B Study Participants by Industry
RESEARCH REPORT

Marketing personnel provided 34% of responses in the B2B study, followed by 14% of
responses from senior company management and 12% from Sales personnel.

Figure 47: B2B Study Participants by Job Role


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Benchmarking Study

Nearly (48%) of respondents are C-level – CEO, CFO, CMO, President or other. This largely
reflects the number of small businesses participating in the study.

Figure 48: B2B Study Participants by Job Level
RESEARCH REPORT

The majority of B2B study participants work for company selling both products and services.

Figure 49: Study Participants by Company Product / Service Focus


53

Benchmarking Study

Nearly 2/3rds of B2B participants work for companies where 67% or more of company
revenue comes from sales to customers outside their local/metro area.

Figure 50: B2B Study Participants by Primary Customer Location
RESEARCH REPORT

Participating B2B companies represent a wide range of potential customer counts.

Figure 51: B2B Study Participants by Company Potential Customer Count


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Benchmarking Study

Respondent are also relatively diverse in the length of the average sales cycle for the
company’s products and/or services. Approximately 35% of B2B participants work for
companies where the average sales cycle is less than one month, while 18% work for
companies with an average sales cycle of seven months or more.

Figure 52: B2B Study Participants by Company Average Sales Cycle
RESEARCH REPORT


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Benchmarking Study

Contact
For media inquiries, questions, comments or suggestions related to this research, please
contact:

Dianne Molina
Sr Manager, Corporate Communications
310-586-4150
RESEARCH REPORT

dmolina@business.com


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Benchmarking Study

More Resources from Business.com…

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/B2BOnlineMktg

Visit our B2B marketing blog: http://blogs.business.com/b2b-online-marketing/

Sign-up for our B2B SEM e-newsletter: http://offers.business.com/content/newsletter

And get high-quality answers to your business
questions through our new Q&A site, Business.com
Answers: http://answers/business.com/


57

Turnkey Tips to Study and Reference Social Media

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